A COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS OF THE VERBS WITH THE DENOTATION STOP LIVING IN SERBIAN AND ENGLISH

Abstract

In this paper, the method of componential analysis is applied to the Serbian and English verbs denoting the termination of life in order to specify their shared and distinctive features, to identify the hyperonym for each of the two groups of verbs as well as to nuance their meanings in whether they are used in reference to humans and/or animals, whether they are part of colloquial language usage or not, and the like. In addition, one of the aims of the paper is to test the applicability of componential analysis to verbs, since it has often been stated that componential analysis is efficient and effective within certain parts of speech, namely concrete nouns. The verbs are excerpted from English and Serbian dictionaries of synonyms and Serbian and English monolingual dictionaries. Componential analysis has shown that the hyperonym in both groups is the periphrasis stop living [in Serbian: prestati živeti]. Applicability-wise, componentional analysis has proved to be quite useful in investigating and determining the nuances of the verbs with the denotation stop living.